


Enemy Unseen

by thealphagate_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Drama, Episode Related, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-15
Updated: 2006-03-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 15:50:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12729576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealphagate_archivist/pseuds/thealphagate_archivist
Summary: Post "Legacy."  How do you fight an enemy you cannot see?





	Enemy Unseen

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the archivists: this story was originally archived at [The Alpha Gate](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Alpha_Gate), a Stargate SG-1 archive, which began migration to the AO3 in 2017 when its hosting software, eFiction, was no longer receiving support. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are this creator and it hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Alpha Gate collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/thealphagate).

"Logical?" 

Daniel spits the word out in the middle of McKenzie's report and the man shuts up immediately. If nothing else I'm just glad McKenzie's report has broken through Daniel's icy calm. I haven't been able to read him since we got out of the lab. McKenzie looks at Daniel over the brim of his glasses, and that condescending prick makes it seem as if Daniel might just still be the crazy one in the room. 

Like hell. However it doesn't mean that McKenzie is the only one to blame here. And we all know it. 

"We work in a secret Government project where we travel to other worlds through a circle of stone. Our allies, our friends, the people we work with aren't human and every time we step through the Gate we find something that defies our human logic. And the only answer you could come up with was Schizophrenia? Because of your logic?" 

He knows that Doc and McKenzie didn't have much to work with, like he knows they did what they could. But still, he's right too. They assumed and we believed them. If we hadn't gone to visit him, if Teal'c hadn't... 

"Dr. McKenzie -- fuck you and your logic." 

The disgust in his voice isn't aimed at the rest of us, but we can still feel it. In his cold eyes and the hands clenched on the table, with the bruises scattered on his wrists. We let McKenzie take him, lock him up in that room and pump him full of that crap because we had no fucking clue what else to do. 

I let McKenzie do that to him; the person that loves him. 

His eyes flick over the rest of us and when they linger just that much longer on me I can see the contempt there. The anger and the fear. His chair scrapes back harshly and he leaves without a backward glance. 

And I am afraid. So very afraid. 

We've talked about it countless times since we got together -- losing each other, to the Go'auld or whatever else we find out there. But losing him to something I can't even see, can't fight, can't help him with -- no. The only thing I could do was watch him lose his mind. Losing control like that even for a few hours terrified me -- and I was in a lab, with Carter working on the cure. I shudder at the thought of that white cell, that prison I sent him to. I keep thinking I should have done something, should have know...something and not just given up. His mind is the most valuable thing the SGC has; his heart is the most valuable thing I have. Though I wonder if I still do.

* * *

He isn't answering his door, and even though I have a key I'm not sure that I'm welcome. But I'm not going to leave leave either. 

Inside there is a single light on in his living room and the phone is off the hook. Other than that it looks exactly like the night before we left -- the movies are scattered on the table. Daniel argued about every single reference in The Mummy, until I shut him up by going down on him right there on the couch. Feels like a lifetime ago. 

There's a sliver of light coming from the bathroom and the sound of the shower sinks in. I push the door open and see Daniel swathed in steam, under the shower, his arms clasped lightly in front of him in a pose of meagre protection. 

"Daniel?" 

He doesn't say a word, doesn't even move when I reach in and turn the water off. I pull him from the shower and into my arms. Wrapping in a towel and me, I feel like I can breathe again...until he pulls away from me, cinching the towel around his waist and heads into the bedroom. 

What have I done? In the bedroom Daniel's already dressing, pulling on jeans before drying off the rest of himself roughly. 

"Daniel..." 

I take the towel from him and this time he's forced to look at me. His eyes are filled with fear as they flicker to me and then aside. I can still see him though -- in that white room, his eyes red and drugged, and that beautiful mind of his -- out of his control and gone as far as we were concerned anyway. 

Now, I can see the bruises on his wrists, on his upper arms, where McKenzie's goons held him down, and I just stood there and couldn't do a damn thing. Not even touch him, because then I know I would not have been able to let go. He pulls his wrist violently from my hand when I start to rub the ugly bruises there. 

"Daniel..." 

He ignores me and rummages in his closet for a few moments before emerging with a sweater. He pulls it on. 

"Daniel...look at me," I try, and all I manage to do is make him stiffen further. He slams the closet door shut, but doesn't turn around. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I let them take you, I'm sorry I left you there, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything..." I'm sorry I don't know how to fix this, don't shut me out... "Please tell me how to fix this..." 

That last part I say out loud, and he answers. 

"You can't." 

My world crashes down around me and the room veers sharply out of focus. He turns to me slightly, fiercely concentrating on not looking at me, it seems. 

"You can't fix this. It's done." 

He runs a hand through his damp hair and I realize he's actually going to leave it like that. Daniel brushes past me, bare feet slapping against the floor. 

"I'm afraid," I blurt out and he stops. 

"I'm afraid of not being able to do something, of not knowing what to do...how to help you ...like that." 

"I know," he says simply. But he doesn't turn around. 

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you...I didn't know what else to do." 

I can't stand this -- his silence, shutting me out, and most of all... 

"Daniel, look at me, please," I beg, and this time he does. 

"I didn't know what to do,"I say helplessly. 

"I know," he says again, and I can see that he does, in the slump of his shoulders, his fear-laden gaze. 

He steps forward, hesitantly and I do the same until we're close enough that I can see the bruises on his neck, just underneath the sweater. 

"If this ever happens again, don't lock me up," he says clearly. "Anything, but that." 

I nod. 

Anything he wants. 

"Don't lock me up," he says desperately, tugging at my shirt. He's determined and Jesus, his eyes are cold, and within them I see what he means. 

He moves into my arms and I'm holding my entire world in this man. Everything I thought I'd lost and could still lose. 

And I am afraid.


End file.
